All-Big Ten Golfer Sheils Earns Degree

Lincoln - Women's golfer Madeleine Sheils is among a strong class of 36 Huskers set to earn bachelor's degrees from the University of Nebraska during commencement exercises at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday, Dec. 15.

Sheils, who completed her eligibility at Nebraska in 2011-12, was a standout on the course and in the classroom for four seasons for Coach Robin Krapfl's Huskers. A four-time NGCA Scholastic All-American and a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Sheils was also an All-Big Ten performer on the course after finishing third individually at the 2012 Big Ten Championships.

The native of Boise, Idaho, led the Huskers with a 74.67 stroke average as a senior, and she closed her four-year career with a 76.88 stroke average, which ranked No. 2 all time at NU. As a senior, she produced 10 top-25 individual tournament finishes, including seven top-10 performances. She captured the tournament title at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Sammamish, Wash., Oct. 3-5, 2011.

Following her Husker career, Sheils competed in LPGA Q-School, earning a spot in the final stage and securing her Symetra Tour card. Sheils, who carried approximately a 3.9 GPA as a philosophy major at Nebraska, chose to pass on the final stage of Q-School competition so she could focus on final projects and exams in order to graduate from Nebraska.

She plans to begin play soon on the Cactus Tour in Arizona before the Symetra Tour season begins.

Nebraska's diverse group of 36 December graduates came to Lincoln from 15 states and Canada. NU continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation, while leading the nation in the number of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (302) and NCAA Top Eight Award winners (16) across all sports.